The implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERPs) represents one of the most significant and expensive forms of organizational change undertaken by contemporary organizations. In examining ERP implementations at four large Australian organizations, this paper reveals how a narrative framework of analysis that draws on what are termed ‘monological’ and ‘dialogical’ based understandings of organization, can be used to explain why many organizations are often unsuccessful in their attempts to implement ERP systems. In doing so it shows how dominant and alternative narratives about ERP implementations serve as sensemaking devices, enabling various actors to mediate their experiences of this form of information technology.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate new agenda of strategy studies. The notion of strategy has constituted our subjectivity through functioning as discourse (Knights and Morgan, 1991). Nevertheless our subjectivity in organizational life is discursively constructed, conventional strategy studies have been neglected this discursive aspect. Thus, strategy has been understood and described as dichotomized way such as “strategy” and “organization.” Reconsidering the case of Intel’s coevolutinary lock-in (Burgelman, 2002) draws this indifference and points out a theoretical problem of conventional studies. Although, if the power structure is reproduced based on everyday practice which is constituted through discourse, it would be impossible to explain the organizational creation of something in practice. This paper recognizes this problem as the basis of new agenda of strategy studies and indicates the critical management studies and practice based research (de Certeau, 1980) are the appropriate approaches to deal with this agenda.

The purpose of this paper is to reconsider the understanding of behavior in the market in order to describe the practice of private employment service that is based on transaction cost theory. Earlier studies have analyzed the private employment agencies based on transaction cost theory. Recently, their limitations are recognized, researches have been based on the embeddedness approach. However, despite its criticism of transaction cost theory approach, it has failed to present an alternative. In this paper, we attempt to solve the problem by using the way of thinking of sociology of markets. First, through the sociology of markets’ view, we maintain that motive of economic action, rather than in individuals, that is distributed in the market devices. Then we demonstrate case study of the practice of private employment service and its users. The conclusion is that private employment services are constantly changing in a complex arrangement.

One of the unique systems in Japanese industrial relations is the collaborative labor–management relationship. This study asserting that the achievement of informal, not formal, communication is recognized as practice of knowledge is analyzed from the constructionist perspective. Discourse analysis is conducted on the practices facilitating labor–management cooperation. Materials in this discourse analysis originated from the workshops held by the Association of Small Business Entrepreneurs in Fukuoka. They issued the Guideline of Labor–Management Relations in Small Enterprises. It has been utilized as a text to communicate with employees in various companies. The recorded data of narratives from four presidents are examined in terms of frame analysis. The study identified that presidents’ reframing of both management and labor played an important role in contributing to the creation of collaborative relationships through informal communication practices, not formal negotiation. The articulation of trust discourse is discussed in how managers lead the collaborative communication, which is a practice of knowledge in labor–management relations in Japan.

This paper focuses on the linguistic aspect of institution and explores the relationship between institution and actors’ interests. Neither do free individuals create institution nor does institution determine actors’ interests. Institution is a linguistic agency that acts on actors. Therefore, actors find diverse interests by facing the institution. If institution creates diverse interests, institutionalization is associated with political work and can be reworded as management, which is based on power relations. By discussing the linguistic aspect of institution, I propose that institutionalization has a dual nature. While institutionalization is initiated by the encoding representation of language to adjust diverse interests, decoding it creates new diverse interests. In addition, referring to the representation of language paves the way for management to act directly on actors. Based on the theoretical consideration, I examine a case and ascertain a concrete way of management, which could not be derived from the theoretical consideration.

The purposes of this paper are, (1) to define the nature of entrepreneurs, reviewing “The Theory of the Growth of the Firm” by Penrose and showing the relationship between Penrose’s theory and “Entrepreneurship and the Market Process” by Harper, (2) to describe the important factors to nurture entrepreneurs in their behavior. Entrepreneurs are specifically characterized as functions of ‘discovery’ and ‘solution’ of problem in (1). They discover problems through the interpretation of internal and external environment according to their knowledge in real time and to ‘theories-in-use’. ‘Theories-in-use’ guides the efficient way to the problem-solving, but then again, it has negative side that entrepreneurs may overlook new problems. On the basis of this point, in (2), this paper shows the necessity for entrepreneurs to be able to deliberate over the ‘theories-in-use’, and to evaluate critically their own activities from customers’ viewpoint, then presents a framework of nurturing entrepreneurs, which is related to ‘dialogue’, and ‘voice of customer’.

Interest in the field of corporate activity is drawing attention to organizational discourse analysis as a new approach to practice. This paper uses the paradigmatic scheme of sociology by Burrell and Morgan (1979) to classify organizational discourse analysis into four perspectives of “practice”, “deconstruction”, “social change”, and “strategy”. How organizational discourse analysis can approach to practice is shown through comparison between these perspectives. In particular, analysis of “strategic” perspective reveals that it is composed from the viewpoint of management which problematize the causality between the functions of organizational discourse and business results, and that corporate strategy is not only legitimated, but also formalized organizational discourse. This paper suggests that formalization is a key concept in the theory of strategy and practice. Finally, the possibility of organizational discourse analysis, especially of “practical” perspective based on social constructionism, to develop fundamental understanding of business organization is argued.